Inside the House GOP's immigration push

House Republican leaders are within weeks of releasing their principles for immigration reform — a blueprint that will detail positions on everything from border security to legal status.

The document, which has been kept under wraps until now, will call for beefed-up border security and interior enforcement, a worker verification system for employers and earned legal status for the nation’s undocumented immigrants, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions. It will also call for reforms to visa programs and a system to track those in the country legally.

Text Size

-

+

reset

The draft principles will also include a promise that immigration reform will be done on a step-by-step basis and will foreclose the possibility of entering into conference negotiations using the Senate’s comprehensive package — pledges that could soothe some Republicans.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who is driving the process, wants these principles released before President Barack Obama’s State of the Union on Jan. 28.

The secret talks are taking place even as leaders doubt that such efforts will be fruitful, in part because of opposition from conservatives who sank the prospects for reform last year. That dynamic hasn’t changed. But Republicans think stating their position is important and could help chart a path forward for reform in 2015 after the midterm elections.

There are some signs that top Republicans are taking the process seriously. There have been discussions among senior Republicans about trying to trade some form of legalization for increased state and local enforcement of immigration laws — a move, depending on how it’s crafted, that could run into resistance from Democrats.

Beyond top GOP leadership, the discussions also include senior members of the Judiciary Committee and pro-immigration reform Republicans like Reps. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida.

Immigration reform is an issue fraught with land mines for Republicans. Public polling shows hefty support for cleaning up what most consider a broken system. But among a House Republican Conference that has had difficulty rallying around complex legislation, the issue has run into resistance. If Republicans ignore the issue, they risk the wrath of Wall Street, Main Street, K Street and Silicon Valley.

The 2014 push, though, has its skeptics. Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, said he thinks the political climate is more difficult this year.

“I think so,” he said, when asked whether it will be more difficult in 2014 to pass any pieces of reform. “It doesn’t mean there aren’t things we need to do, but I think it’s been made more problematic because now people can say the president waives parts of laws he doesn’t like. And he has.”

Among rank-and-file House Republicans, there is an appetite to take up immigration reform despite skepticism about whether consensus on the issue is possible.

“Politically, it has always been a very difficult issue — very difficult, very controversial, very emotional, very difficult issue,” Diaz-Balart said. “So it’s a big ask, but I think there’s a lot of people here who are willing to do what they believe is right for the country even above personal, political considerations.”